BENNINGTON — A Petersburgh, N.Y., woman was charged with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to a child Monday after police said she left her two children, 9 and 4, alone in the car while she went into Wal-Mart in Bennington on July 27.

Elena Grenoble, 42, pleaded innocent to the charges and was released without bail.

In an affidavit, Sgt. Michael Plusch, of the Bennington Police Department, said he was dispatched to the parking lot of Bennington Wal-Mart, on Northside Drive, around 6:35 p.m. July 27.

Plusch said he spoke with the children in the car and they told him they were waiting for their mother, Grenoble, who was in the store.

According to Plusch, about five minutes passed until Grenoble returned to the car. Grenoble told Plusch she was buying clothes for her 4-year-old daughter because the child had vomited on herself after they had been picking blueberries.

“I advised Elena that she cannot leave her kids unattended and she responded that it was only for five minutes. I tried to explain the horrific consequences to her about what could happen and her response to this was that we are not in New Jersey,” Plusch said.

Plusch said he spoke to a Wal-Mart employee who said he had been told about the children by a customer with a small child who had approached him to complain about it. The employee said he went over to the car and saw that the children were in the car unattended.

One of the conditions of Grenoble’s release Monday was that she not leave any children younger than 10 in a car unattended.